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Donald Trump Postpones Announcement on Business Conflicts Donald Trump Says His Company Will Do ‘No New Deals’ During His Term
(about 4 hours later)
For those waiting to see President-elect Donald J. Trump explain how he will balance his private business with his public duties, you’ll have to wait a little longer. WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump said late Monday night that “no new deals will be done” by his real estate business while he is in the Oval Office, a promise that appeared meant to address ethical concerns about conflicts of interest between his elected position and his real estate empire.
Transition officials said Monday evening that they were postponing a Dec. 15 news conference at which Mr. Trump had said he would reveal his plans to avoid conflicts of interest with his sprawling business empire. But the move is unlikely to satisfy critics, including the government’s official ethics office, who have said the only way for Mr. Trump to avoid such conflicts is to entirely divest his stake in the Trump Organization.
Now, he will not do so until January — most likely before his inauguration and after a vacation at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, officials said, confirming a report in Bloomberg News. Mr. Trump said on Twitter just after 11:30 p.m. that he would leave his businesses before his inauguration and that his grown sons, Eric and Donald Jr., along with other executives, would manage them. He added, “No new deals will be done during my term(s) in office,” and promised to hold a news conference soon to discuss the plans.
Mr. Trump had originally said, in an earlier Twitter post, that he would announce his business plans during a news conference on Dec. 15. But officials with the transition confirmed on Monday that the news conference had been delayed.
Now, he will not hold it until January — most likely before his inauguration and after a vacation at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, officials said, confirming a report in Bloomberg News.
The officials said building a cabinet had consumed more of Mr. Trump’s time than expected. And they said he needed more time to decide how to deal with the large, iconic real estate holdings that are part of the global Trump business.The officials said building a cabinet had consumed more of Mr. Trump’s time than expected. And they said he needed more time to decide how to deal with the large, iconic real estate holdings that are part of the global Trump business.
The news conference on Thursday would have been Mr. Trump’s first since becoming president-elect. He had announced it on Twitter last week, promising to “discuss the fact that I will be leaving my great business in total in order to fully focus on running the country.” He said it was “visually important, as President, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses.” Even if Mr. Trump and his children stop making new deals, the Trump Organization already has a large basket of investments and branding deals that present apparent conflicts of interest around the world.
“Hence, legal documents are being crafted which take me completely out of business operations,” Mr. Trump wrote. “The Presidency is a far more important task!” In Washington, Mr. Trump and his family recently opened the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue — in a building rented from a federal government agency that Mr. Trump will soon oversee. Mr. Trump is also part-owner of a hotel in Las Vegas, where a dispute with workers is pending before the National Labor Relations Board, which Mr. Trump will also oversee by appointing its members.
Later, people briefed on Mr. Trump’s deliberations said he was considering formally turning over operational control of his company to his two grown sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, while he and his daughter Ivanka took leaves of absence. People with knowledge of the discussions said Mr. Trump would announce a “legal structure” to separate from the business while keeping an ownership stake. The Trump Organization has business partners in the Philippines, Brazil, India, Turkey and other nations where Mr. Trump himself has acknowledged a conflict of interest over real estate projects. At the same time, he will need to deal with top officials in Turkey over matters like the fight against the Islamic State and the continued crackdown on dissidents there after an attempted coup.
In an interview with The New York Times just before Thanksgiving, Mr. Trump dismissed the idea of selling his company, saying it would be very difficult. “I think that, you know, selling real estate isn’t like selling stock,” he said. “Selling real estate is much different. It’s in a much different world.” Mr. Trump, at least so far, has not given any hint that he intends to sell these assets or sever ties with business partners; he says he will instead turn over management of the operations to his children. His family continues to personally profit from the investments, which ethics experts said could present a conflict of interest even if Mr. Trump and his family do not enter new deals.
But he added: “I would like to do something. I would like to try and formalize something, because I don’t care about my business.” Richard W. Painter, a White House ethics adviser under President George W. Bush, said Mr. Trump’s latest Twitter posts meant very little in terms of eliminating conflicts.
In an interview with Fox News Sunday over the weekend, he said bluntly that his children would run the company, though he did not say whether Ivanka would be included. “It makes no sense to say ‘no new deals,’” Mr. Painter said, questioning why the president-elect would make an announcement just before midnight on a Monday. “What is he talking about?”
“They’re going to run my company. I have a lot of property and great stuff. They’re going to run it,” he told Chris Wallace, the host of the program. “They’re going to run it. Hopefully they’re going to run it properly. I’m sure they’re going to run it properly. But I’m not going to do deals. And I think, you know, I think that’s going to be good.” “Is he going to continue to borrow money from foreign banks like Bank of China? That is a deal,” Mr. Painter said. “Or collect rent from foreign government-owned companies? That is a deal. Will he still be hiring people, or having people stay in his hotels?”
The news conference this week would have been Mr. Trump’s first since the election. He had announced last week it on Twitter, promising to “discuss the fact that I will be leaving my great business in total in order to fully focus on running the country.”